‘Terrifying’ 1951 sci-fi movie folks ‘want to look at now’ | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV | EUROtoday

While describing the 1951  sci-fi horror, a critic stated it “set the template for a decade of alien invasions” — and maybe that’s all it is advisable learn about The Thing from Another World.

Sometimes known as simply The Thing, this black-and-white alien encounter movie directed by Christian Nyby created a blueprint for the horror sci-fi style in Hollywood.

Based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? written by John W. Campbell, who was utilizing the pseudonym Don A Stuart on the time, The Thing from Another World stars Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Kenneth Tobey, and Douglas Spencer, with James Arness taking over the mantle of The Thing. In 1950, producer Howard Hawks acquired the rights to Who Goes There? for $1,250.

Now streaming on BBC iPlayer, the movie centres round a US Air Force crew and scientists who uncover a crashed flying saucer and a humanoid physique frozen within the Arctic ice. They convey the physique, nonetheless encased in ice, again to their remoted arctic analysis outpost, solely to seek out themselves battling for his or her lives when the malevolent, plant-based alien is unintentionally thawed and revived.

The *spoiler alert* scene the place the closer-to-plants-than-humans alien is ready aflame and repeatedly doused with kerosene, was one of many first full-body hearth stunts that was ever filmed. The Thing hit theatres in April 1951 and have become the forty sixth largest earner by the tip of that 12 months, beating out stiff competitors from all different sci-fi motion pictures that launched in that 12 months, together with When Worlds Collide and the long-lasting The Day the Earth Stood Still.

It acquired usually constructive critiques from the viewers in addition to critics, with one saying: “On the whole the movie is far and away the most original and ingenious in this new category of pseudo-scientific entertainment.”

Another critic stated of the movie: “You had better see it soon, right away, before you hear too much about it from those who have had the pleasure. And the thrills and chills.”

One constructive crucial evaluation of the movie provides: “Taking a fantastic notion (or is it, really?), Mr. Hawks has developed a movie that is generous with thrills and chills and comes up with just enough light, bantering dialogue so that the film does not appear to take itself too seriously.”

Another viewer stated: “The film is pretty well done, and the acting, totally stripped of phony glamour and with real-sounding dialogue, is good indeed. You have the impression you are watching people, not actors.”

While one viewers reviewer added: “Excellent effects and direction which perfectly utilises its confined location, and the script and story are also very and even the drastic changes, like the main monster just being a Frankenstein clone that’s actually a living plant (or rather, carrot) are very welcomed due to how innovative and unique they are.”

One detailed evaluation of the movie by somebody who had watched it when it initially launched, says: “I am old enough to have seen this movie when it was first released in 1951. As a preteen, it gave me nightmares for days. It was an original. It was one of the first to establish the ‘gotcha’ moment in 1950s sci-fi horror movies—the moment something jumps out of the corner of the screen to scare you. Even though it was one of the pathfinder movies (in many ways) of that genre, it was also a serious sci-fi motion picture.

“It greatly benefited in scaring audiences from the cultural “Red Scare” that was going on in the early 1950s. So if you’ve never seen this movie; wait until dark, turn off the lights, and enjoy a good scare…..”

While one evaluation merely stated: “It’s one of the best classic monster movies of all time! Can’t recommend it enough.”

The Thing from Another World is offered to stream on BBC iPlayer.